My palm pilot died

My palm pilot died on me last week. It was a horrible crash. It just went into an endless cycle of fatal exceptions, even after doing a hard reset. I've had this device for, I don't know, maybe three years. I wrote most of the scenes for Mission: Dawn using this little machine. I would carry it with me everywhere I went, and I feel unorganized without it. What if I get a killer idea when I'm in the washroom and I have nowhere to write it down? I have to rely on my own memory now to keep track of my appointments. This is no good. I have been without a functioning palm pilot for over a week now and this just won't do. It has got to stop.

Palm has a new device called a LifeDrive. It's not a PDA (personal digital assistant), it's a mobile manager. What does that mean? I think it means it costs more and is slightly bigger than a PDA. It has a feature I want though, a built in voice memo recorder. That's for taking voice notes when I get my killer ideas while I'm driving in my car. I've been to Grand & Toy and I've been to The Source but have not yet seen a demo model. I went to Best Buy - they said their demo model was stolen. Stolen? I thought they had those things tied down with a steel cable and bolted to the display desk!

Planning my Great Escape

I've given some thought to what I want to do next with my song, The Great Escape. J has suggested that I post a version in which I've re-recorded the vocals. I've decided not to do that, and instead to stay with my original plan which was to post an instrumental version.

By posting an instrumental version to GarageBand.com, I am asking for the listeners to review my song on its merits as a composition. If I were to post a version with new vocals, it would like I'm asking to be reviewed on the basis of how much have my vocals improved, and that is not what I want to do at this time.

I've listened to an instrumental mix that I had recorded several years ago to get an idea for its suitability for posting to GarageBand.com. Overall I think it's pretty good, but there are a few areas where I think it needs some fills - some percussion, and maybe an additional guitar layer to bring out the melody.

What my next steps would be - set aside a budget for studio fees and schedule a session or two.

What's next?

The stresses ofthe past couple of weeks that led to the closing of the sale of my house have caught up with me. This week I have been feeling totally exhausted and, I'm sure, unbearable to be around.

Now that the sale of my house is out of the way, I've been asking myself what is my next big challenge?

I think it is time to get back to what I was doing with GarageBand.com and post another song for review. As I wrote in October, I'd like to post a song I wrote called The Great Escape. (See GarageBand.com - next step) Lyrically, this song is about exchanging a life of dreariness, duties, responsibilities and empty materialism for a life with adventure, creativity, exploration and passion.

I've been considering posting an instrumental version of this song. J, on the other hand, thinks I should just re-record the vocals - she says my singing voice has improved since I made the original recording.

I'll have to think about that and decide which way I want to go.

Closing

I finally closed on the sale of my house this week. The buyers took possession of the house and I took possession of their money. I was in there several times this week doing some last minute clean up. I felt sad as I prepared to leave the house for the last time - it was the first house I'd bought and I'd lived in it for eight of the nine years that I owned it, so there were a lot of memories, good and bad, associated with it. However, this is an opportunity for me to leave behind the ghosts of my past and to get ready for the next phase of my life.

Jump starting Mission: Dawn Chapter 2

It's been bothering me that I haven't posted any new scenes to my Mission: Dawn blog since September. I've been working on a scene called Celebration and I've made some headway in the past couple of weeks, although it still isn't where I want it to be. In order to keep my momentum and motivation going, I've decided to split the scene into two parts. I've posted what I have so far as Celebration - Part 1.

I have some notes that I've made during one of my writing blitz exercises about what is going to happen next in the story. I'll be using those notes as the basis for Celebration - Part 2.

I had been hoping that I'd be able to write Chapter 2 in 2 to 3 months. It's now been about 6 months since I've started it. Grrrrr.

Tony Robbins and duct tape

I've been listening to a Tony Robbins CD about driving forces. Tony Robbins defines six forces that are supposed to drive human behaviour.

Two of his six forces are those that TR calls uncertainty and uncertainty. According to TR, it is a paradox of human behaviour that people are motivated by certainty as well as uncertainty. His claim is that people want a degree of certainty (they're going to eat, have a roof over their head, be able to pay the bills) but if they are saturated with certainty it leads to boredom - hence they create uncertainty.

What TR calls uncertainty is what I call security and what he calls uncertainty is what I call variety.

I find that being involved in real estate creates a lot of variety. One day it's roll up your sleeves and get dirty, physical work, get on your hands and knees and poke your head into a dark and dusty hole in the basement because you're trying to fix something. The next day it's city hall, going through bureaucracy to get a licence or permit for something, or to make a property tax payment.

One day you're dealing with duct tape; the next day you're dealing with red tape.

Writing the next paragraph

My novel-in-progress, Mission: Dawn, has once again stalled. It is now six months since I started Chapter 2. I had a good roll in the summer when I completed several scenes, but work and real estate seem to be in the way of regular writing.

I've been working on a scene called Celebration. I actually got stuck for a while with this scene. I had a general idea for this scene but the details just weren't coming to me.

One technique I use when I am stuck but want to keep moving forward is what I call the next paragraph. What I do is quickly review the last scene I've written and then tell myself to write the next paragraph. If I'm really stuck then I tell myself to just write the next sentence, or line of dialog. If I can discipline myself to do this process once a day and actually write it, then after about three days I'll get back into a flow and the story just starts coming to me.

Months are flying by

The months are flying by at an incredible pace these days.

My house is sold and the buyer has waived all conditions. I need to get the rest of my belongings out of there before closing date, which is less than three weeks away. I also need to send some documents to the lawyer I am using for this transaction, and I need to look for some documents to send to my agent.

There are some issues that have come up that I need to deal with in regards to another rental property - I had let certain things slide there and as a result I have a bit of a mess to clean up.

On top of all this, I started a new work assignment last week. It is with the same client I worked for in the spring. One of the upsides of being at this client site is that I have started doing the stairs again.

House is sold

My agent has notified me that the buyer has completed their home inspection and has waived all conditions. This means my house is now officially sold

They had one condition in their offer that struck me as unusual - the condition that they will be able to get insurance for the house. It turns out that this was a roundabout way for the buyer to assure themselves that they weren't buying a growhouse.

They also wanted me to repair a crack in the basement, which I agreed to do. My agent referred me to a company, called The Crack Doctor, that does this work.

What an irony it is that I have a buyer who is concerned about buying a growhouse and I hire a contractor called The Crack Doctor.

An offer I won't refuse

I got an offer on my house that I can refuse, but I'm not going to.

I had been at the house doing some clean up work in the basement, and I just got home from that, when my agent called me. "All your work has paid off - I have an offer for you," he told me.

The price is lower than what I'd like but it's still in my range. The lower end of my range. It's a very short closing - only about three weeks away. I have to get the rest of my furniture out of the house by then, and I'm responsible for repairing a crack in the basement.

I'll be meeting my agent tonight to sign the paperwork.

Learning all about life

I had an interesting conversation with a young girl at church on Sunday - she's about 4 or 5 years old. It was during the hospitality part of the service, and she asked if I could please help her butter her bagel.

I told her that of course I would, and because she said please I would be most delighted to.

She said, "In my house, we never get anything we ask for unless we say please."

It made me happy to hear that there are still people in this world that value courtesy and are teaching it to their children. I replied to her, "Well there you go, now you know everything there is to know about life," I told her.

She paused for a moment and then said, "Well, maybe not everything."

What a precious gem.

Painting is almost done

I've almost finished painting the bedroom, as I mentioned in my previous post.

The room in question and I have spent a lot of time together in the past, particularly when I painted it the first time. Going back there this week to paint it again was like a reunion. I even felt the spirit of my first cat, Smudge, roaming the hallway and I missed him. I remember that I discouraged him from going into that room when I painted it the first time, because he once peed on the drop cloth.

First offer on house

I got an offer Saturday on the house I am selling. It was a low offer. I tried to meet him halfway but he didn't want to come up much from his price, so I let the offer go.

I've been getting comments that the house looks tired. One of the bedrooms is painted in a kind of psychedelic fashion - it was an experiment in creative painting I did a few years ago. I like it, but I think my potential buyers may be getting turned off by it and seeing it as needing work. So I plan to paint that bedroom in a more conservative colour this week.

GarageBand.com - next step

In considering the reviews I received on GarageBand.com from the song Yesterday Seems So Far Away, I have decided my next step will be to post an instrumental version of another song I wrote, called The Great Escape.

I want to do this as an experiment. Since I received so many negative comments about the vocals, I want to post an instrumental version so my reviewers will be able to hear the music and not be distracted by the vocal performance.

I have some ideas of steps I can take to improve the vocals on future recordings, but so far I'm kind of holding myself back from acting on any of those ideas. I guess one of the things that is holding me back is not having a clear sense of priorities - do I want to focus my energies on my music or on my creative writing? The truth is I want to accomplish in both areas - and so I end up puttering along on both fronts yet taking great strides in neither.

Greatest accomplishment

I've experienced my greatest accomplishment of the year. Perhaps of my lifetime.

J's brother is visiting us this weekend with his family, including their new baby. She was sleeping in one of the bedrooms. When she awoke, she started crying and neither her mommy or daddy were around. I picked her up and held her and rocked her and talked to her and sang to her - and finally she stopped crying.

I got a four month old baby to stop crying. I am so pleased with myself right now.

It's my birthday and I'll pfft if I want to

It's not the talking you need to worry about, it's the bad breath.

If someone had asked me yesterday how old I was, I could have said fourty years and three hundred sixty four days. Today, I am a little bit older (for those who aren't good at modulo math, that would be fourty one).

Here's a birthday horoscope I found:

Your self-confidence has suffered some damage. This year, however, marks your entry into a new and exhilarating phase of your life, bringing a most welcome change in your fortunes. It can only benefit you greatly at every level. Happy birthday to Matt Damon, 35.

How about that - I share a birthday with Matt Damon.

Well, I for one, am looking forward to this new and exhilarating phase. Last week I published my 100th blog post, and I am looking forward to the next 100.

Contracting work almost done

I went by the house I am selling earlier this week and saw that the contractor I had hired to do the face work was almost done. He had repaired the cracked wood and was in the process of painting it a couple of days ago. I am sure he is done by now.

Meanwhile, there continue to be showings at the house. Lots of showings so far. This is good - this part of the marketing pipeline is working well. But I want to get something to the next stage of the pipeline - an offer. A reasonable offer.

Building blocks, heros, and ensembles

I was searching on the internet the other day for story writing software. I was curious to learn what kind of software is out there for this purpose. I came across one application called John Truby's Blockbuster. There was a 15 day trial version available; I downloaded it in order to give it a spin. This fifteen day trial period will probably end before I've had a good look at it though.

This application is based on a model that uses 22 building blocks for developing a story. Building block #1 is Self-Revelation, Need, Desire. This is what the manual has to say about this building block:

The self-revelation, need, and desire represent the overall range of change of your hero in the story. They are the structural "journey" your hero will take. Therefore, it is important that you determine these elements first so that all other steps in the journey will lead you where you want to go.

I have been reluctant to identify a protagonist in Mission: Dawn because my vision for this story has been to create an ensemble cast. Must I have just one protagonist?

I looked up protagonist on wikipedia. It says In an ancient Greek drama, the protagonist was the leading actor and as such there could only be one protagonist in a play. Hmmm, okay, but Mission: Dawn is not an ancient Greek drama. I guess I need to do some more thinking about this.


Some articles I have found about story writing:
Protagonist - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
How To Write A Novel - A Simple Procedure to Follow by Paul Saevig
A Novel Idea - First of a series of columns by John Ravenscroft as he writes his first novel, in public

Got a contractor

I received a written estimate from one of the contractor's I met last week - the one that I said that they struck me as the most professional. I had expected that their estimate would be higher than the others I had. They're a professional company and I expected they would charge more for their services. I had expected their quote to be about $2000-3000 higher. It wasn't. It was about $10,000 more than what the other contractors I'd talked to had quoted me. Back to the drawing board, and I'm getting antsy to get the work started.

I called my financial advisor and I called a guy from my church who does real estate, and I asked them if they knew a contractor to whom they could refer me. Both of them had a contact for me.

I also called a guy I met recently from my men's group - he's a carpenter by trade. I met with him at the house, he said he could start on Monday, and to make a short story shorter, I gave him the job.

In the meantime, there have been about a dozen showings already, so I'm hoping at least one of them will lead to an offer.

Relationship milestone

J and I have reached a new milestone in our relationship. It is not as big as getting engaged but it's almost as significant.

We opened a joint account this week.

Now if only we actually put some money into it.